Qui Tam Whistleblower Lawyer Interviews

Washington, DC It’s not the users. It’s the doctors. In a November 22 interview with lawyersandsettlements.com, attorney Jason Brown told a strange two-track story where healthcare whistleblower lawsuits meet the opioid epidemic. It’s not pretty. He believes that 2018-2019 will bring a proliferation of whistleblower lawsuits that target the real villains – the doctors and the healthcare system within which they operate.

Washington, DC: Rooting out healthcare fraud is a top priority for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and on July 17, 2017 the DOJ announced a massive $1.3 billion crackdown on healthcare professionals involved in schemes to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and healthcare services for US veterans and their families.

Dallas, TX A Dallas doctor decided in 2009 to blow the whistle on a physician over a billing scam that was costing the healthcare system and American taxpayers millions and millions of dollars. Six years later, after a long investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Dr. Bijan Oughatiyan’s former employer, IPC Healthcare Inc., was ordered to pay $60 million plus interest, to settle a false claims case brought against the company based on the information the whistleblower doctor provided.

Washington, DC: “We even have qui tam whistleblower cases that involve doctors paying illegal runners to find people who are destitute on Medicare. They get a little treatment but the doctor bills for a lot,” says attorney Jason Brown. “They figure these people won’t complain but employees of that practice will blow the whistle.”

New York, NY Attorney Kirk Chapman and fellow attorney Ross Brooks from Milberg LLP in New York City recently settled a ground-breaking whistleblower suit under the False Claims Act on behalf of Sean Mason, a sales executive at a giant US medical supplies company.

Los Angeles, CA Bijan Esfandiari, an attorney at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, has participated in a number of cases that have shaped and developed the law for the benefit of injured victims and consumers of pharmaceutical products. He also assists potential whistleblowers to determine whether they have a qui tam case and, if so, will file a claim on their behalf under the False Claims Act.

Washington, D.C. It is late on a Friday afternoon and you might expect lawyer Erika Kelton from the renowned Washington firm of Phillips & Cohen to be out celebrating. Just 24 hours earlier Kelton and her client, a California scientist and businessman, learned the case judge had approved a $302 million settlement against Quest Diagnostics—the largest qui tam (whistleblower) lawsuit settlement in US history. "No, no, I am not out celebrating, I am here in my office," says clearly elated attorney Kelton who has worked on behalf of truth tellers for 20 years.